From: Bernard Pearl
18 Great Aztec Achievements and Inventions
Posted on November 1, 2020
(Last Updated On: April 16, 2021)
Aztec inventions were truly inspiring for other nations. The reality is that the empire of the Aztecs launched many issues in the world. But they weren’t a lot of distinctive improvements as they had been things they took from the peoples that they had conquered – issues that had been around for a whole lot even 1000’s of years. In this article, I am going to talk about Aztec achievements and inventions.
Great Aztec Achievements and Inventions
When the Aztecs met the Spanish, the 2 cultures launched quite a bit to one another. You may also love to read about ancient Indian inventions.
In this new period, the peoples of Mexico had been launched to issues like onions and horses, and the Europeans had been launched to… effectively, and we’ll discuss below the Aztec inventions:
1. Chocolate
Chocolate was extremely valued within the Mayan tradition – it was really used as currency. The Aztecs valued the cacao bean as effectively and demanded or not it’s part of the tribute. This is one of the Aztec inventions.
Then they created one thing that might actually make history – xocoatl (a phrase which means bitter water), which was much like drinks the Mayans had made before them.
This was a spicy hot chocolate drink that was in style among the many higher courses. It was really a mixture of cocoa beans, cornflour, water, and chilies!
2. Chewing gum
The Mayans, for one, found that they may take the thick milky liquid from the sapodilla tree (an evergreen) and harden it into the gum.
The liquid was “chicle”, a phrase you possibly can nonetheless hear on avenue corners in Mexico from distributors promoting chewing gum.
When the Spanish arrived, they discovered Aztec prostitutes on avenue corners chewing gum. The Aztecs had chicle trading routes in place, which had been promptly destroyed by the Spanish. The gum turned a reminiscence, till it began coming back 350 years later.
3. Guacamole
The name comes from an Aztec dialect by way of Nahuatl āhuacamolli which accurately interprets avocado puree.
Avocados had been first cultivated in South Central Mexico around 10,000 years ago. In the early 1900s, avocados often glided by the name alligator pear. This is one of the Aztec technology and inventions.
Guacamole has elevated avocado gross sales within the U.S., particularly on Super Bowl Sunday and Cinco de Mayo.
The rising consumption of guacamole is most probably a result of U.S. authorities lifting a ban on avocado imports within the 1990s and the expansion of the U.S. Latino inhabitants.
Guacamole dip is historically made by mashing ripe avocados and sea salt with a molcajete y tejolote (mortar and pestle).
Recipes typically name for lime juice, cilantro, and jalapeños. Some non-traditional recipes might name for bitter cream, tomatoes, basil, or peas.
4. Antispasmodic Medication
The Aztecs practiced superior medication. They used a kind of antispasmodic treatment – medication that would forestall muscle spasms and calm down muscle tissues, which can have been useful throughout the surgical procedure.
The Passionflower was used for this objective, a flower which nonetheless grows in Mexico as we speak. The ardor flower remains to be used as we speak as a natural treatment, believed to assist with insomnia, epilepsy, and high blood pressure.
5. Chinampa
Invented in central Mexico around 600 CE. Chinampa is a way utilized in Mesoamerican agriculture which relied on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to develop crops on the shallow lake beds within the Valley of Mexico.
They are constructed upon wetlands of a lake or freshwater swamp for agricultural functions, and their proportions guarantee optimum moisture retention.
The earliest fields which were securely dated are from the Middle Postclassic interval, 1150 – 1350 CE. Chinampas had been used primarily in Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco close to the springs that lined the south shore of these lakes.
The Aztecs not solely performed army campaigns to acquire management over these areas however, in keeping with some researchers, undertook vital state-led efforts to extend their extent.
6. Vanilla
Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (V. planifolia).
According to in style perception, the Totonac individuals, who stay on the east coast of Mexico within the present-day state of Veracruz, had been among the many first individuals to domesticate vanilla, throughout the period of the Aztec Empire (across the 15th century).
Aztecs invading from the central highlands of Mexico conquered the Totonacs, and developed a style for the vanilla pods.
They named the fruit tlilxochitl, or “black flower”, after the matured fruit, which shrivels and turns black shortly after being picked.
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing each vanilla and chocolate to Europe within the 1520s.
7. Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the follow of burning tobacco and ingesting the smoke that’s produced. The smoke could also be inhaled, as is completed with cigarettes, or just launched from the mouth, as is usually executed with pipes and cigars.
It is believed to have begun as early as 5000–3000 BC in Aztec, Mesoamerica, and South America.
Tobacco was launched to Eurasia within the late 17th century by European colonists, the place it adopted frequent commerce routes.
The follow encountered criticism from its first import into the Western world onwards however embedded itself in sure strata of various societies before turning widespread upon the introduction of automated cigarette-rolling equipment.
8. Sauna
A sauna, or sudatory, is a small room or construction designed as a spot to expertise dry or moist warmth periods, or an institution with a number of those amenities. The steam and excessive warmth make the bathers perspire.
The infrared remedy is also known as a kind of sauna, however in keeping with the Finnish sauna organizations, infrared just isn’t a sauna.
The temazcal was the first-ever sweat lodge, utilized by many cultures in Mesoamerica. This is one of the Aztec inventions.
9. Rubber ball
Before 1600 BCE by the Olmec for unsure functions and later utilized by the Mayan and Aztec for ball video games.
10. Universal Education
In the years forward, training was going to grow to be increasingly more vital all over the world – however, the peoples of the Aztec empire had been on the leading edge.
Many international locations had training for the higher courses, however for the Aztec training was vital it doesn’t matter what your gender, rank, or station.
11. Popcorn
This “Aztec invention” actually got here alongside long before the time of the Aztecs. However, it was the Aztecs that launched it to the remainder of the world.
Groups such because the Zapotec (of Mexico) and Moche (of Peru) popped their very own corn lengthy before the times of the Aztecs.
But when the Spanish arrived, Hernan Cortes noticed popcorn for the first time. It was used as a decoration on headdresses, and to adorn their god Tlaloc, the god of maize and fertility.
12. Balloons
Man has deliberately crammed bladders, particularly precise animal bladders, with air since prehistory. In Ancient Greece, these had various recorded makes use of. This is one of the Aztec technology inventions.
The Aztecs inflated cat intestines to make shapes to current as sacrifices to the gods. By the 18th century, individuals had been inflating balloons of material or canvas with sizzling air and sending it aloft, the Montgolfier brothers going too far as to experiment with first animals in 1782 after which when altitude didn’t kill them, human beings in 1783.
13. Pulque
Pulque, or octli, is an alcoholic beverage comprised of the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. This is one of the Ancient Aztec inventions.
It is conventional to central Mexico, the place it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, considerably viscous consistency, and a bitter yeast-like style.
The drink’s history extends far back into the Mesoamerican interval when it was thought of sacred, and its use was restricted to sure courses of individuals. After the Spanish Conquest of Mexico, the drink turned secular and its consumption rose.
The consumption of pulque reached its peak within the late 19th century. In the 20th century, the drink fell into decline, principally due to competitors from beer, which turned more prevalent with the arrival of European immigrants. There are some efforts to revive the drink’s recognition by tourism.
14. Mesoamerican ballgame
Played in a different way by the Mayan and the Aztec, it’s believed to be one of many first ball video games, if not the first.
15. Processing of rubber latex as rubber
Although vulcanization with warmth or sulfur was neither identified nor practiced, Mesoamerican peoples used the juice of the morning glory vine to equally cross-link uncooked rubber and make it usable. This is one of the Aztec inventions.
16. Compass (probably)
Olmec had superior data of magnets. The discovery of a hematite artifact has led many consultants to consider that Olmec invented the compass 1000 years before the Chinese did, though some nonetheless should not satisfied. This might be one of the Aztec achievements and inventions.
17. Molcajete
The molcajete was utilized by pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures, together with the Aztec and Maya, stretching back a number of thousand years. This is one of the Aztec civilization inventions.
Traditionally carved out of a single block of vesicular basalt, molcajetes are usually spherical in form and supported by three brief legs.
They are often embellished with the carved head of an animal on the skin fringe of the bowl, giving the molcajete the looks of a brief, stout, three-legged animal. The pig is the most typical animal head used for adornment of this kind.
18. Metate
The particular angles of the metate body enable a proficient methodology of turning grains into flour.
Lesley Téllez describes the grinding motion of a metate as utilizing your wrists to sort of rotating the metlapil ahead, whereas on the identical time urgent downward, onerous, with the palms of your fingers.
While various in particular morphology, metates are usually made of a big stone with clean despair or bowl worn into the higher floor. Materials are floor on the metate utilizing a clean hand-held stone referred to as a mano or metlapil.
This motion consists of a horizontal grinding movement that differs from the vertical crushing movement utilized in a mortar and pestle.
The depth of the bowl varies, although they’re usually not deeper than these of a mortar; deeper metate bowls point out both an extended interval of use or a greater degree of activity.
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